They absorb and hold moisture which is so critical to the compost pile.

They are one of the few sources of nitrogen that is widely available year-round
to people in urban and suburban areas.

They are easily stored for days in a closed plastic bag.

They are free.

They are available in large quantities.

This year, world production is estimated to reach 7,658,780 tons of coffee
beans. That's a whole lot of coffee -- and a whole lot of spent grounds.

We wondered what was happening to all those grounds. Are
they going to the landfill or being reincorporated into the earth? This
concerns over 7.5 million tons of organic material generated each year.
If we just reclaim coffee grounds, we can make a significant difference
in the volume of organics recycled rather than landfilled.

We conducted a survey which provided a wealth of information
on the use of coffee grounds in the garden as well as the collection of
spent grounds. The results were published in a 42-page report. Some of
the results from that report are presented here.

Recycling Spent Grounds

More respondents have used coffee grounds for gardening or composting
(87%) than actually drink coffee (81%). This means that people are responsibly
disposing of coffee waste generated by others -- highly commendable! In
some cases, grounds were generated within the same household, i.e., the
respondent did not drink coffee but a spouse or other household member
did. In other cases, respondents did not drink coffee but composted grounds
which were obtained from a neighbor or relative. And there were quite
a few who brought home grounds from the coffee room at the office. These
are all great sources.

The most common uses for coffee grounds were in
compost piles and/or worm bins, added directly to the soil, or as mulch.
Of those participants who answered this question, 88% used grounds in
compost piles or worm bins. 29% used as mulch, and 10% incorporated their
grounds directly into the soil. Several participants applied grounds to
houseplants. Many respondents reported other uses where grounds worked
well for them or used grounds on specific plants.

Collecting Spent Grounds

A high percentage of people compost spent coffee grounds, and there seemed
to be a willingness to collect them from neighbors, friends, and work
places. Surprisingly, only 13% of respondents had collected grounds from
shops.

Although there were reports of composters collecting grounds or other
organics from work, gas station, church kitchen, fast food restaurant,
cafe, juice bars, and a tea room, the idea of using coffee shops as a
source of spent grounds had not occurred to most of the respondents in
our survey. Many promised to start right away.

We asked those who did not collect grounds why they didn't. Here are some of the objections (O) which we received and my response (A for "Answer")O: I do not patronize coffee shops.A: Neither do I. I don't even drink coffee and they are glad to give their
grounds to me.

O: I haven't asked because I don't want to be rebuffed. I don't think
the
workers would be willing to take the time to put them in a special container.A: Insecurity? Ask! They may already be putting them in a separate bag.
They may be delighted to do this for you. They may be eager to please
a
customer. If not, they will say "no". Surely that wouldn't be
too traumatic.

O: I did not know who to ask.A: Ask any employee and they will direct you to the correct person.
Ask the manager if you want to set up an ongoing system. If you just want
the
grounds they have on hand, walk up to the clerk and say, "I would
like to have
your spent grounds because I use them in my garden. Do you discard them
in a
separate container?"

O: Too embarrassing to ask for other people's garbage.A: Call it "organic waste" instead of "garbage" --
problem solved. Spent
coffee grounds are a fruit nut that has been ground and had boiling hot
water
poured through it. It isn't medical waste, or something that has been
in
someone's mouth. It is the cleanest garbage around.
Those of us who understand the value of organic materials must spread
the word
to those who don't. You might be surprised at how fascinated some shop
clerks
can become with a person who finds spent coffee grounds useful.

O: I live in Brooklyn, NY (USA). Lots of coffee shops, but people would
think
I'm nuts. This could be a good thing, though.A: If you compost, I can give you a list of people who already think you
are
nuts. You have nothing to lose.

O: I tried getting greens for composting from a grocery store and they
looked
at me like I was a "dumpster diver" who had wandered into the
store.A: Bad experience. They probably thought you were looking for a free dinner.
No one will think that when you collect spent coffee grounds. And another
benefit -- coffee grounds smell good! By the way, accent the word "spent"
when
you ask for "spent coffee grounds". Two survey participants
reported that, in
separate incidents, confused clerks finally handed them a package of unused
coffee grounds, not certain as to why the requester felt she should get
them
for free.

The most common "excuse" was concern that a shop
clerk might think the request was strange. It is surprising that people
would allow the passing opinion of a complete stranger to determine their
behavior. However, these comments were quite sincere.

A lack of confidence, shyness, or awkwardness usually results
from uncertainty as to correct behavior in a specific social situation.
Because this appears to be a problem for a significant number of people,
Part III: "Guide to Coffee Grounds Collection", provides information that will allow a composter
to confidently approach store personnel.

Experiences in Grounds Collection

Following are a portion of the grounds collection experiences
reported by survey participants when asked how often they collected grounds.
Note the variety of time intervals between pick-ups, formal vs. informal
arrangements, number of shops involved, and amount of grounds acquired.

Every time I go into town, I call early in the morning to
my local HyVee cafeteria and ask that they save coffee grounds and egg
shells for me. Also, the local restaurant -- the same

Not necessarily
a coffee shop, but from one "tea room" in town and a church
kitchen

I collect from work. We have a coffee service so after each pot is made
I have a special waste basket for my grounds and I bring them home once
a week. We make 5 to 6 pots a day, not as much as a coffee shop, but still
quite a few by
the end of the week

For a while I left a 5 gallon bucket at the local espresso stand and collected
it every week full of espresso grounds. I got too busy to continue. They
were very willing to put the grounds in my bucket

Daily from McDonalds

Starbucks. Any time I am passing near one

This month I went to
several Starbucks and collected a bag from each place everyday for 1 week

Started this past summer with a gas/deli station. I pick up a 5
gallon pail
every day. Sometimes it is only half full

Twice weekly I would
pick up 2 full buckets from the local shop

I started collecting last summer when I built my bin. I collected from
2 shops, every other day, one 3 gallon bucket each. Now a friend collects
one of them

From my cafeteria at work. Everyday I gather all the
coffee grounds from their machine which comes to about 10 lbs. The workers
throw the filter and grounds into a big garbage bag for me and I manage
to fit that in my backpack

I pick up some when I am near the coffee
shop. There are a lot of people that pick up grounds here

I collect
grounds every two or three days from a coffee shop in two 5 gallon
plastic buckets. I bring in two clean buckets and swap them out. A friend
of mine covers a different shop

A couple of times from Starbucks

I did only a couple of times.
I knew someone that worked there which made it
easy. They understood why I wanted it

Starbucks gives away big
ole bags of them. It's like black gold

Yes, whenever I went by Starbucks

In early 2000, I collected grounds
from Starbucks about twice a week. The next
employee was not amenable to the idea so I stopped

Several times
a month. Sometimes others have gotten there before me! It is a wonderful
offer and I commend Starbucks

Yes, approximately once a month.

A whopping 84% of our respondents said they would be more likley to patronize
a coffee shop that was environmentally responsible, all other things being
equal!

Subscribers to our newsletter received the full report:Part I reports information about how the survey was conducted, geographic
location of participants, personal use of coffee and coffee grounds, and
how
and when coffee grounds are used. In addition to the study results, Part
I also
includes a list of coffee resources on the Internet, as well as notes
on how to
use coffee grounds in the compost pile and C:N ratio information.

Part II reports statistics and comments on the use of coffee
shops as a source
of spent coffee grounds. It includes objections to collecting from coffee
shops, collection arrangements which have been used by respondents, as
well as
both positive and negative experiences during collection. Respondents
also
provided many suggestions as to what shops could do to encourage patrons
to
collect grounds.

Part III is a Guide to Coffee Grounds Collection. This Guide
gives actual
experience in collecting grounds from start to finish, a Questionnaire
for the
reader to complete with instructions as to how to analyze your answers
to
discover the type of collection methods that are right for you. Finally,
it
gives a step-by-step procedure for grounds collection.

Part IV is a bonus issue included with this report. In responses
to the
survey, there was confusion as to whether composters should expect to
pay for
spent grounds, get them for free, charge a fee for removing wastes for
shop
owners, or consider it an even exchange. This is a question that often arises.
Part IV explains how the answers to this question are determined. It is
titled Composting &
Economics: Supply and Demand of Compost Inputs.